


Say It Again

by sharedwithyou



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angstangstangst, Bruce Banner Has Issues, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, F/M, Mindfuck, Reader-Insert, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 11:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10695933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharedwithyou/pseuds/sharedwithyou
Summary: Bruce sighed and peeked through the hair flopping in his eyes and saw your face, beaming like an exuberant lighthouse.“Say it again.”“I love you too, (y/n).”Now, though, you hadn't asked him to say it in a long while.





	Say It Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NeonSheep](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeonSheep/gifts).



> For Sheep, my long-time friend and supporter, who like me has a large soft spot for Mr. Bruce Banner.
> 
> However, since she only requested Bruce fics and didn't specify what type, I came up with angst.
> 
> I'M SORRYYYY it just comes naturally!!! *hides*
> 
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy this! Leave me a comment!
> 
> XOXO Bucky the Angstmaster
> 
> p.s. ~~~ denotes flashback. yes i included those this time :P

 

 

“Tell me one more time.”

He ducked his head and looked at your shoes, three inches away from his.

“Come on,” you coaxed, enjoying the half-anxious, half-confident lopsided smile on his face.

Bruce sighed and peeked through the hair flopping in his eyes and saw your face, beaming like an exuberant lighthouse.

 

“Say it again.”

 

“I love you too, (y/n).”

 

~~~~~~

 

You looped your arms around his shoulders now, and nuzzled his ear where he was the most ticklish. “Morning sunshine.”

He squirmed away, but stayed close enough so you could play with his bangs. He knew you loved that.

“Morning (y/n).”

“Did you stay up all night again?”

“Not really-“ he checked his watch, amazed at how the hours had slipped away. “It’s eight already?!”

“Mhm.”

He rubbed his eyes sheepishly, noticing the intense cramping in his neck.

“I thought it was five.” Sometimes you’d wake up before the sun and tiptoe downstairs to check on him. He tried to finish up most days before two, but you were his real timekeeper.

 

When he got lost in his research, you were the one who would guide him into his room, unbutton his shirt, pull off his shoes, and have your way with him.

 

Or at least use him as a pillow as the two of you drifted off together.

 

Lately, though, he had really thrown himself into his work.

 

Two o’clock would creep into three, and you’d get so tired from trying to stay up that when five rolled around, even your insistent bladder couldn’t rouse you from under the covers.

And you didn’t want to nag him every hour from ten PM on; you liked to think of your bossiness as more of a sign of affection than a character flaw. Or perk.

You only pushed it when you knew you could get away with it.

And given his perpetual state of mind, you’d rather err on the side of caution.

 

Lately, you’d been more and more quiet.

 

You were growing less and less sure of when he’d feel free. Enough for you to tease and goad him to your heart’s content.

 

 

You hadn’t asked him to say it in a long while.

 

 

“You know, man, most people respond when someone tells them they love you.”

“Uh-huh.” Bruce peered at his scribbled notes intensely, trying to find a careless error that might otherwise completely derail his current experiment.

“At least muster a ‘me too.’” That’s what Tony did anyway; aloof enough to maintain his cocky ego, but still affectionate enough of a reciprocation.

“Yeah.” Bruce was barely listening as he considered re-calibrations.

“You seem uptight, bro. I mean, more so than usual. (Y/n) giving you enough love?”

“What?” Bruce had gotten so used to tuning out the chatterbot that he barely registered Tony mentioning your name. Still, he perked up slightly.

“Nevermind.” Tony dropped it for the moment, more because a IT article had caught his attention and not out of, you know, any spatial or emotional awareness. “Anyway, shouldn’t you get some sleep?”

“I’ll catch a nap in the back later.”

“Nap in the back,” Tony echoed, appreciating the accidental rhyme. Sort of. It didn’t shut him up though. “You know, a full night’s rest improves productivity remarkably.”

“I suppose.” Tony probably used that to get away with sleeping off a hangover for a full 12 hours. Still, the statement had some validity.

“Go on, shoo. Go sleep in a real bed, instead of the crappy cot (y/n) dragged in here.” He knew if you’d been there he wouldn’t have gotten away with dissing your Thomas the Train Engine twin set. “I hate to say this because I hate her half the time, but she really is good to you. Try to hold on to her, Bruce. There’s plenty of fish in the sea. And she happens to like the nerdy ones.”

Tony got real for a moment, before returning to his 12-year old mind set. “I hope for all this you’re at least giving her some.”

“Sure, Tony.” Bruce finished meticulously stacking his work materials and even listened to Tony’s yammering for half a second, before heading out.

 

He passed you in the living room where you were crunching on some frosted flakes and arguing about the best Teen Titan with Clint. It was obviously Robin. Well, maybe Beast Boy.

“Night (y/n).”

“What do you mean night, man?! It’s past nine now.”

You swatted Clint on the arm with a breathy ‘hush!’ and gave your man a bright smile.

“Night, Bruce.”

He nodded tiredly and trudged towards the bedroom.

 

“I love you.”

 

You called over his shoulder, leaving the half-heartedness in your heart.

“Mhm.”

Then he rounded the corner and was gone.

 

 

“Why are you together again?”

You resisted bursting into tears onto your cereal and punched your bestie in the arm instead.

“I like him!!”

“Yeah, well I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like you back.” He gave you a face of ‘I deserved that’ when you stomped furiously on his toe.

“You know that’s not true!!”

“I guess,” he teased, ducking when you tried to smack him.

You still loved him though.

Maybe it was weird that you spent more time touching your best friend than your boyfriend-or-whatever, but you never were that normal anyway.

 

 ~~~~

 

“You said the L-Word first?!”

Clint dug his spoon into your quart of baskin robbins and took a huge bite.

“What’s the big deal?” You weren’t one of those old fashioned wait-around girls.

“So what’d he say?”

“What do you think?!”

“Congratulations, dude!”

You gave him an ‘are you retarded’ look.

“What?! You have ice cream whether you’re happy or sad! How am I supposed to know the difference?!”

“When I’m not devastated, I use a bowl. So I don’t finish the whole tub.”

“Huh.” He looked down at the half empty (or was it half-full?) carton.

 

You sat in silence for a few long seconds.

 

“Guess I’ll help you finish this one then.”

And so instead of crying, you laughed and socked him in the shoulder, before turning on The Closer.

The next day, when Bruce ended the awkward silence by saying it back, Clint went out to buy another gallon of sherbet.

 

And a huge bowl in your favorite color.

 

~~~~

 

“(Y/n)?” Bruce woke up when his phone vibrated, before seeing you next to him.

“Hey.” You were sitting cross-legged on the bed doing a crossword.

“Why don’t you lie down?” He didn’t like using the word cuddle. Too mushy.

“My back’s kind of sore,” you lied. But you scooted closer so his head could touch your leg.

“Is it from staying up?” He reached out to give you a quick squeeze, before dropping down exhausted.

“Don’t worry.” His guilty eyes made your stupid heart flutter.

“I know I’ve been really busy lately.”

“Just part of saving the world and all.”

 

“Still, I miss you.” His voice was drowsy, and maybe that’s what was making him vulnerable. Truthful.

 

“Aww, shucks.” He smiled sleepily at the humor in your voice, before turning away in his normal sleeping position.

And maybe if you’d asked him then, to say it again, he would have.

 

But you didn’t want to break the spell.

So you let him drift off instead.

 

 

“I miss you too, Bruce.”

 

 

“It’s only 10. Why are you in your pajamas?!”

Tony called from the couch where he had unloaded at least 24 beers on the seat next to him.

“It’s a normal bedtime Tony.”

“For old people, maybe.”

“Everyone else is asleep.”

“Almost everyone,” he corrected. Three at least. No one knew for sure about Clint. Sometimes he fell asleep in the vents. No one bothered checking his room anymore.

“Don’t you usually go to bed at 2? For Hulky?”

“Are you keeping tabs on me Agent Stark?”

“Psh. I’ve got better things to do.” He burped loudly and crushed the now-empty can, throwing it behind him like a drama queen. As if he were the one who had a reason to be one right now.

“Whatever.” You yawned and headed down to the lab, before changing your mind.

 

Bruce had gotten annoyed at your so-called ‘alarm clock visits’ lately.

 

He barely had time (or was it motivation?) to give you a proper hug.

You didn’t bother trying for a kiss; it would probably just be two skins touching briefly. Even if it gave you goosebumps, it didn’t make it truly real, did it.

You wondered if he got the tingles too when you touched.

Maybe you’d ask him sometime.

 

Certainly before you tried again.

 

 

“It’s just she’s become very distracting to my work.”

“Which is a cure?”

“For my condition? No.”

“So, cancer then?”

He laughed easily at Natasha’s quip. He had not felt this comfortable in a while. Maybe work was getting to him.

“Have you told her this? How you’re feeling?”

“In some form or another.”

He hadn’t had a serious talk with you because he honestly didn’t have the energy. And he hated to see you sad.

Still, he seemed to have no problem with this conversation anyway.

“Well, it might help if you did.”

From anyone else it would sound preachy and annoying; from Nat the Cat it just made sense.

“You’re right.” He made a mental note. “I’ll talk to her.”

She nodded. “You do that.”

 

 

“I don’t think this is going to work.”

Those were definitely not the words he meant to choose; the connotation, he meant even less.

But you couldn’t possibly have known that.

“I just mean, I’m really tied up with my work right now.”

You looked at him with a blank face, no sign of your devastation.

“I don’t think I can make time for you.”

He had always struggled with communication; this, however, was nothing short of a train wreck. Off the tracks. Heading towards a cliff.

He stared at his hands, not sure what he could possibly say to make you understand what wasn’t even clear to him.

And even if he had known exactly what he himself felt, and found a way to articulate it; you didn’t have the time or energy to wait around to hear it.

 

He grasped at thin air.

 

“You get me?” He ended desperately.

 

You looked past his shoes, his rumpled shirt, to his creased, worn out face.

“Say it again.”

He puckered his brow. “All of it?”

“Just the last thing.”

He repeated it like a question, thoroughly confused. He hadn’t realized what he was saying then. “I don’t think this is going to work?”

A dry smile practically tore into your face, and you were pretty sure, no, you knew, that the irony and pain and brokenness would be lost on him.

 

“That’s right.”

 

He stared at you, bewildered, on the cusp of something he hadn’t meant to start (or end), didn’t know was going to end.

 

 

“I don’t think this is going to work too, Bruce.”

**Author's Note:**

> WAHHHHH
> 
> AS;DLJFA;SLDKJFA;LD;JK
> 
> leave me some love below!!
> 
> Random Ramblings:  
> quick poll 1: hardest part to read?!?!
> 
> mine was probably 'Still, he seemed to have no problem with this conversation anyway."  
> beginning of canon bruce/nat? him falling out of love with you and in love with her?!!  
> or probably just not being able to talk to you lately because he didn't want to hurt you and he's a dolt
> 
> quick poll 2: sequel?! And if so, who?!  
> So far it seems like Clint and Tony could be equal possibilities in addition to Bruce. I would like to give bruce another chance as well, though. though this works well as a one-shot, it just kind of ended up depressing me. so probably i'll write something fluffier with bruce in it!
> 
> although the "As if he were the one who had a reason to be (a drama queen)right now." was a subtle hint that tony might be bummed with how bruce was acting, because he cares about you. not sure if anyone caught that. damn i'm really trying not to civil unrest any of my one-shots but it's SO HARD. 
> 
> i realize that the cute parts (any bruce fluff, clint buying you a new bowl, tony being unselfish and telling bruce to appreciate you) kind of just made the angst hurt more. sorry bout that!!
> 
> Thanks for reading lovelies!! See y'all soon!
> 
> XOXO Bucky the Mindfucker


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